The Next Fon Master
by Sunruner
Summary: Spoilers. Some dreams have difficulties too great to overcome. Some promises aren't always kept as we intend. Does this mean we fight forever for that which will never come? That we pine and wish things had come about differently? No, we just send Jade.


**Just to clarify, I myself haven't quite figured out what I think really happened at the end of Tales of the Abyss. I'm currently in the midst of several one-shots actually, but I for those who are or will read them, each one has a slightly different take on who/what the Luke was who met Tear in Tartaroo Valley.**

**The fact that they're all named Luke is very annoying however…**

**Angstiness now!**

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**The Next Fon Master**

She had never seen a bird in Yulia city before… Not once in all the years she'd spent in the darkness of the Qliphoth, only the pale blue flowers of her garden had ever grown, no animals, few insects… So, to see one now, she just had to stop and look at it, purely amazed by what she saw.

Somehow, at first she hadn't even seen it. Sunlight was another anomaly for the garden just beyond her window, to see the red light of sunset shining across the lush leaves and pale stones of the ancient buildings was breathtaking for her. Its wings matched the subtle browns of the earth between the petals. The bright red of its chest making her think at first that it was a discolored flower sitting amongst the others of the bed.

A robin, a tiny little robin had found its way into her garden. She'd first come to know the bird and the many hundreds like it when she had first journeyed to the Outer Lands when the distinction had still been necessary. Now the world was all one level, sitting on the floating mantel which had dominated her childhood. But the city was still out in the far reaches of the ocean, surrounded now by water instead of miasma, to see such a delicate creature finding a home amongst the flowers was… she didn't even know how to describe it.

"Ah, here you are." Startled from her thoughts, she spun quickly on her heel, suddenly reminded of her burden as the sharp edges of the files in her arms dug into the skin painfully.

"Colonel?" Blinking in surprise, she gave a slight nod of her head to try brushing the fall of her bangs from her eyes. His head partly visible though the hole in the floor, a tall, thin man in the dark blue of an Imperial officer proceeded to climb up the stairs from the lower level. He didn't make to help her with the folders in her arms, his gloved hands neatly tucked into the pockets of his tunic-length jacket. The yellow bands edging his uniform shone as though they were more than just tight thread, the light of the sun reflecting off of the thin lenses of his glasses the crimson of his eyes.

"Yes, I'm on business here in the City on his Majesty's orders." That smile of his never really moved at all, and now was no exception as he brought one hand up to adjust his glasses smoothly.

"Grandfather didn't say anything though, how odd."

"I don't think Teodoro likes me very much. Actually, to put it quite simply, I don't believe _anyone_ here in Yulia city is fond of me at all." Shaking his head dramatically, the long sandy brown lengths of his hair swayed subtly with the motion, and he gave a long and exaggerated sigh. "Honestly, what does the world have against the Necromancer?"

"I think it has more to do with Fomicry than Necromancy." Allowing herself the barest of smiles, she made her way towards the small table in front of the windows looking out into the garden. Setting the files down, she noticed him follow her somewhat and gaze out past the flowers to the ocean beyond.

"Yes, they are all a bit uptight about the Score and its disproval, hmm?" Another over-played sigh, "Well, if I'd known at the time it would cause the trouble it did, I would've simply paid up my allowance for the new doll instead." She couldn't help it; a soft chuckle escaped her as the older man lamented over his childhood actions.

"Colonel, is this really what you came here to discuss?" She knew it was rude, but, he really wasn't the sort for small talk, or at least she'd never known him to be.

"No, not at all." Sometimes it hurt to have him be so blunt with people, but she made sure her face betrayed nothing, allowing the Colonel to speak his peace.

"They're doing good work you know. Luke and Natalia." Betray nothing, betray nothing. "Well, I suppose I should call them Asch and Natalia." She just fixed that smile onto her face, knowing she needed to look away from him for a moment to make sure it wasn't her eyes instead which said something foolish.

"I'm glad that he kept Luke's resolve for helping the Replicas…" She recited mechanically, knowing Jade would call her on it, but unable to make herself sound any different. "Has Anise been of any help to them yet in Daath? I haven't spoken to Grandfather in depth about it yet." He was silent for a very long moment, she could almost hear him calling her on her emotions, but maybe she could count on him to just be his blunt self for once.

"No. Not a wit. I didn't want to call her on it at the time, but Anise has absolutely no chance of rebuilding the Order with herself as the Fon Master." Avoiding one problem only ever led to another, she should've known that by now but kept her eyes focused outside just the same. He wasn't going to call her on how things had come to be with the Heir of the Fon Fabre household, instead he was going to be tactless about the Order of Lorelei.

"Perhaps Grandfather can—"

"Perhaps Teodoro can help you come to your senses." Even for Colonel Curtiss, his voice was harsh.

"Look at yourself, Tear, and be ashamed of what you see." Where had that little robin gone? She couldn't see it anymore. Maybe if it came back then he would go away again. "You are a servant of the Order of Lorelei, a member of the Oracle Knights, granddaughter of the acting leader of the Order and a Patriot of Yulia City- a descendant of Yulia herself. And yet now, when the Order is shaken and on the breech of shattering from the bottom up, you sit here- doing what exactly?"

He wasn't even shouting at her, for some reason that just made him more frightening. Too know that there was an anger deep inside of him, and yet he was strong enough to keep his voice even, his lips curved up into that icy smile. As he reached for the top folder of the stack she'd been carrying, all that betrayed his own emotions was how sharply he snapped his wrist; both in taking it up and parting the pages.

"Taking inventory for the local shops. This is the life the first Melodist since Yulia's time to sing the Grand Fonic Hymn resigns herself too." A judge's gavel never sounded so loud as the papers did as he tossed them back down. From the corner of her eye, she could tell he didn't even swing his arm with the motion either.

"…Anise aspires to be the next Fon Master."

"Anise aspires to salvage what remains of the Order for Ion." He didn't cut her off, but as the sunset beyond the window grew lower and lower, the stronger crimsons filling the air made it seem as though he had. "She has no seventh fonon and is too young for anyone to take literally in this endeavor. You and I both know she has the determination of a true soldier, and the intelligence to rival any adult, but does the world know that?"

"She could prove herself to them-"

"She doesn't have the Seventh Fonon. There is no score to read anymore, but the fact that she doesn't have it counts her out of the running all together." Finally, a pause, there was such a sudden silence it was almost hard for her to hear him sigh once again, this time without any added drama or flare, he just sounded tired. "She doesn't even have the talent to master any of the Daathic Fonic Artes."

"Anise wants this, Jade. It may be hard for her, but if she can just prove herself worthy." She was repeating herself now, repetition always meant losing to the Necromancer… "She's right for it, for Ion's legacy she is the best choice."

"But all _you_ have to do is sing." There was no robin anymore; it must've flown away, gone searching for someplace better than a garden always locked in the shadows of the city…

"I'm finished singing, Colonel, there's no reason for me to use those Hymns anymore." She couldn't bring herself to try looking up into his eyes, the fonic spell woven across them just made his gaze to harsh for her sometimes. "If they ever held any power at all, it was spent freeing Lorelei and calling Luke back to us…"

There was a single, tense moment, when she thought he might actually be kind enough to leave her be. But then he just proved he was still the same old Jade.

"You mean Asch. He's taken the name Luke again, but we all know who he really is."

"Yes, Colonel, I know…"

"And I know why you haven't set foot outside of Yulia city since that night." …It wouldn't have been like him not to know, after all. "I'll admit; that was rather heartless of him not to even embrace you. And then too just call out to Natalia instead, a rather harsh blow indeed." He would think that, wouldn't he? It hadn't been his heart on the line…

"Are you truly willing to allow the Order to crumble and die?" She had to close her eyes, had to force herself to turn around as he spoke. His words stung too harshly, she didn't want to hear of this all again.

"The Order of Lorelei… taking with it Anise's heart and Ion's Legacy, along with the hopes and dreams of many thousands of people all across Aldrant… You'd do all of that simply to avoid ever dealing with Asch in High Society life?" Her grandfather had already come to her several times before, but somehow hearing him say it tore away all the layers of silk and honey. She hated how she sounded like such a coward, but there was more to it than what he said… there was so much more…

He just sighed…

"If his absence is causing this much strife for you, perhaps I should just make another one." Her heart… just stopped. She hadn't even felt her eyes open again and yet she was suddenly staring at the blank length of the wall across from her. "He was just a replica after all, I'm sure I could find the files with all of his data amongst Dist's things in Daath."

Just a replica?

"No." Just a _replica?_ "No, you can't." When did she turn around? She could hardly feel her own legs, her bangs falling across her face again as she turned to face him. It hurt to breathe, there was a dull pain all throughout her chest; it was as though she were drowning. But he just smiled.

"Really; and why not?" It had been so easy over the course of their journeying to forget how imposing he could be in his uniform all pressed and clean. It was almost frightening to have him stand before her as unconcerned and yet imposing as he had been that first time in Engave, and later aboard his landship, the Tartarus. That time had seemed like ages ago before, and now it felt as though it were just yesterday.

"I even have his memories. Right here, you see?" She was just about to cut him off when he allowed his smile to grow a bit larger, making him seem only all the more dangerous. How long had he been holding his hand behind his back, this entire time? She hadn't even noticed the odd pose until he let his hand be revealed for the first time.

"No, Jade you can't do that. It isn't right…" How had he come by that? The small, leather-bound book, its pages full with words someone dear to her had scrawled into them night after night. He had always written in it religiously, by the light of a campfire, the glow of fonstones and ancient technologies from the Dawn age, even in just the half-day of the Qliphoth…

"Our entire journey, his entire memory of all his mistakes and trials, all the way from before he met you until the moments leading up to that decisive battle. All in his perspective, all written for the sole purpose of being there should he ever be without his true memories again."

"…Jade…" She could feel herself shaking, trembling even as her eyes were focused only on the small book in his hand. She'd been so focused on watching him and his spelled eyes this whole time, but now she couldn't bare to look away from the tiny bundle of memories he held so casually.

"Anise couldn't bear reject Florian." She truly couldn't look away from it. Even as he lowered it down to his side to continue speaking, her eyes followed it intently. "Would you somehow have the heart to say no to him if I did in fact bring him back?" She couldn't move; it hurt to breathe; her eyes were burning so badly. She hated feeling weak like this, but ever since that night… she just couldn't keep tears away anymore.

"How can you even-" She couldn't keep her voice from breaking; make her legs work to keep her upright. She felt herself falling slowly, her arms wrapped around herself as her knees slowly buckled. The tears felt so hot down her cheeks as she just closed her eyes and let herself sink to the floor. "How can you think that- how could you even joke about—" She couldn't even speak for herself anymore, not without a sob she was trying to keep down rippling through her words to scatter them.

Of course she wouldn't be able to reject him, but nor could she justify putting someone through the pain the real him had. Of feeling inferior, of not knowing what he was alive for. To bring a person into being just so she wouldn't feel alone? How… how wrong and how twisted that idea was… she couldn't stand it, didn't know how he could stand in front of her and taunt her with the possibility…

Silence, a stretch of it so long she couldn't help but feel more alienated by it. Was he proud of himself now? Throwing such ideas at her and watching her break all over again? As though that first night hadn't been terrible enough for her. And now people were following her home, making her relive those moments and think of how weak she was for succumbing to her own emotions.

The only sound which broke the silence were his footsteps, the clack of his boots against the metallic floor of her room as he came close to her. She wasn't sobbing anymore, or if she was she was fighting them down so hard they couldn't be seen. The tears didn't stop though, she could feel them just streaming down her face even as his hands came to rest on her arms, urging her to get up and stand again.

He said nothing at all to her as he turned her slightly and motioned for her to walk towards the door leading out into her garden. She almost tripped once over the step leading down towards the flowers, but he stayed with her closely. Neither of them spoke, he just led her down to the lone circle of flowers and the tombstone sitting amongst them, the name of He Who Would Seize Glory scrawled across it's crystal-like face.

The crimsons of the sunset had passed into the dull violets of twilight and oncoming night. In the Qliphoth there had been no stars before, but now the patternless array of far off lights and fon stones danced all across the sky above.

There had never been trees in the Qliphoth either. Not in all of Yulia city had anything save for the glowing flowers of her garden ever taken root and flourished. She had needed to ask her grandfather's permission before this one had been brought to the city and planted, although it couldn't very well be called a tree at this point; coming up only just to her shoulders. She could still fit one hand around it's trunk at the thickest point, but she hoped it would take, prayed it would grow. An ash tree… How Ironic…

"This is a new world the two of you created together." She'd never heard him speak softly before, speak kindly. She couldn't take her eyes from the small tree before her, the waves of the ocean sparkling beyond it. He'd cut his hair here, as a symbol of his past and acceptance of change. In fact, he'd stood right there, in that spot where the tree was fighting to lay its roots…

...Where just above it... a robin's nest was hidden amungst the thin branches, safe from any beast at all...

"He wouldn't have wanted you to live in it as though nothing had changed from the old..." …Luke… You idiot.

"Here." Somehow, there was a tone in his voice which pulled her eyes from the scene before her, banished those memories- at least for a moment.

In his gloved hand, was the diary… She just stared at it a moment before accepting it, noticing how white her hands looked, as though she hadn't seen the sun in weeks. She just stared at it, the beaten, water-stained and weather beaten covers of the tiny book he'd always kept on his person at all times. She just looked over it, running her hands across the bindings before looking back up at Jade…

"Asch- No, my apologies. Viscount Luke Fon Fabre asked me to give it to you. I thought now might be as good a time as any…" A pause; and for a moment she thought he almost looked… thoughtful. "No one else will read it until you have. And even then, only with your expressed permission."

"…Not even Asch?"

"Not even Luke. Fon Master."

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"…Why did you have to be the one to come?" 

"A unanimous decision by both their Royal Majesties of Kimlasca and Malkuth, as well as a vote by everyone else with a personal stake involved."

"Excluding myself."

"I'm afraid you weren't in Daath at the time, Master Teodoro." Cleaning his glasses with a soft kerchief from his pocket, the Colonel addressed the leader of Yulia City with a casual smile as he answered. The old man just furrowed his brow behind his desk where he sat. It was clear he disliked having the soldier in his home, and even more displeased that his sole reason for being there had been to speak with his granddaughter alone.

"I trust your business here is completed then?" Not in Daath indeed. Were the young woman in question not a child he had raised from birth he could understand why the choice had excluded him. But, as things stood now; his bias prevented him from being at all pleased with the soldier's manners.

"Yes, Sir. Their Majesties orders were to help convince Tear to consider taking a more important role in the faltering Order." Now, that was curious.

"A matter I've addressed several times myself, and you think you've made more of an impression?"

"If you will think no less of me sir, I normally don't know when I've been too hurtful, so tend to keep going until I feel I've personally made my point." By the Score, she was in no condition to be badgered by this vulture now. He could feel a bit of anger kindling, but did his best to keep his peace, at least for a short while longer.

"And did you?"

"Yes, Sir. I believe so; she seemed more willing to cooperate by the end of things."

"Very well then. Feel free to let yourself out."

"Always a pleasure to take my leave of you, Sir. Good day."

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**I know Asch has a lot of fans out there, but personally I like Lukear more than most other pairings in this game. Thus the rather angsty outlook in this story. I haven't actually written a lot of Angst for a while now, so can you blame me for wanting to get some of this off my chest? I hope not.**

**Review? Please? Pwitty please? Yay...**


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